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Mint
2 days ago
- General
- Mint
What led to Air India plane crash? Experts weigh 4 possible reasons behind tragedy
Investigators are racing against time to find the cause of the deadly Air India plane crash — one of the India's worst plane crashes recorded in a decade. India has already launched an investigation into the fatal crash of the London-bound Air India plane that plunged and hit a residential area in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, minutes after takeoff on Thursday. All but one of the 242 passengers and crew onboard the Air India plane were killed in the crash. With the investigation underway, several experts have weighed in on the possible reasons that could have led to the crash of the Air India plane. Here's what they said after analysing early evidence, videos and photos of the crash: US experts said on Thursday that the plane involved in the crash at Ahmedabad did not seem 'properly configured' and that the crash appeared 'surprising' at first glance. Analysing the videos and photos of the crash, Aviation safety consultant John M Cox said the grainy images of the flight suggested that one area of inquiry was likely to be whether the slats and flaps were in the correct position as the plane attempted to climb. 'It's hard to tell but from looking at the aircraft from behind… it doesn't look like the trailing edge flaps are in the position I would have expected them to be,' he was quoted by news agency PTI as saying. The CEO of Washington DC-based Safety Operating Systems, however, cautioned that the image quality is "not good enough to make that conclusion. It's just an area where I know that they're going to look.' As per the initial footage, the aircraft initially climbed on a normal trajectory before it suddenly began descending. Experts noted the plane appeared to maintain a nose-up attitude, a posture usually not associated with a normal descent. This, according to them, suggests a significant and sudden loss of engine thrust, the Hindustan Times reported. 'The image shows the airplane with the nose rising and it continuing to sink,' Cox said. 'That says that the airplane is not making enough lift," he said. He said, "The slats and flaps should be positioned so that the wing makes more lift at lower speeds." Former pilot Saurabh Bhatnagar told Indian news TV channel New Delhi Television LTD the incident appears to involve 'multiple bird hits'. Bird strikes refers to a collision between a bird and an aircraft which is in flight, taking-off or landing. Bhatnagar was quoted as saying: 'It looks, prima facie, like a case of multiple bird hits wherein both the engines have lost power." He noted that the take-off was "perfect" but "the aircraft started descending, which can happen only in case the engine loses power or the aircraft stops developing lift." However, Sam Thomas, president of the Airline Pilots Association of India (ALPA) told HT that it was 'highly unlikely' a flock of birds disabled both engines. A report cited experts analysing why the aircraft's landing gear was not retracted. Capt Manoj Hathi, a former Air India official, told the Times of India, "It's possible that a dual engine flame-out was the reason the landing gear could not be retracted. Dual engine failure could occur due to bird ingestion or fuel contamination. Looking at the trajectory and body angle of the aircraft, it appears as if the aircraft has stalled because of loss of speed." Former pilot Ehsan Khalid explained that the landing gear is raised as soon as the flight takes off. "Since the landing gear was down, it is possible that a loss of engine was detected beforehand... The biggest question is why the landing gear was not up....," he said. According to the TOI, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in its statement the pilots gave a MAYDAY call seconds after take-off. This information reportedly supporting the theory that a dual engine failure occurred probably after the aircraft crossed the speed beyond which a take-off cannot be safely aborted. Other pilots said the possibility of a dual engine failure is a rare event with about seven documented accidents in the past seven decades. Former pilot Ehsan Khalid told the Times of India the aircraft appeared to have faced a loss of power, which could be attributed to engine malfunction. However, he stressed that it is highly unlikely for both engines to fail simultaneously, especially due to a bird strike within such a short timeframe. "The visuals show that the aircraft faced a loss of power... The loss of power can be due to engine malfunction, but it is very unlikely that both engines would lose power simultaneously... It is a very big engine, and it is rare that both engines lose power due to a bird hit in a one-minute duration," he was quoted as saying. Although just preliminary clues and theories are emerging, a definitive cause remains elusive until the government probe concludes. Professor John McDermid, of the University of York, said it was too early to know 'in any detail'
New York Times
31-01-2025
- General
- New York Times
What to Know About Collision Avoidance Systems on Planes
For decades, airlines, regulators, lawmakers and others have tried to make flying safer, creating layers of protection intended to prevent tragedies. But that apparatus failed on Wednesday, when a passenger plane crashed into a military helicopter over Washington, killing 67 people. Investigators have not yet identified a cause of the crash, but here's what you should know about two of the technological systems in place to make passenger plane pilots aware of nearby aircraft. The Traffic Collision Avoidance System An important protection against a midair crash is technology known as a traffic collision avoidance system, or TCAS. The system, which is required on passenger airlines, alerts pilots when two aircraft come dangerously close to each other. At short enough distances, the system will alert pilots to a possible crash by instructing them to redirect their aircraft, either by climbing or descending. TCAS has been in use for decades and experts say it has significantly reduced collisions. 'I'm alive today because of TCAS,' said John Cox, a former airline pilot and founder of Safety Operating Systems, an aviation consulting firm. Years ago, Mr. Cox said, he was descending in a Boeing 737 over Orlando International Airport when the system alerted him and his co-pilot to traffic nearby. The pilots looked around for another aircraft, but saw nothing. Then, TCAS provided an urgent instruction: 'Climb.' Mr. Cox said they did so and later saw a smaller aircraft beneath them. A collision would have been catastrophic, he said. After a series of collisions, culminating in the 1986 crash of a passenger jet and smaller aircraft near Cerritos, Calif., that killed 82 people, Congress instructed the Federal Aviation Administration to require TCAS on all large commercial airplanes. It is optional on military aircraft, though, and it's not clear if the Army helicopter involved in the crash on Wednesday was equipped with it. That crash occurred at a relatively low altitude, though, where TCAS's most critical collision avoidance instructions would have been limited by design, Mr. Cox and other safety experts said. As jets approach an airport, they are likely to be closer to each other than at higher altitudes. As a result, the system limits the alerts it issues to avoid causing confusion and hindering safety. The Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast In recent years, the F.A.A. has required all passenger airlines and many other aircraft to use another system, called the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast. The technology broadcasts the location, altitude, speed and other data of aircraft it is installed on every second. Those broadcasts can be picked up by other aircraft or equipment on the ground. Air traffic controllers and many passenger plane pilots rely on the information received from ADS-B systems using devices that can provide detailed maps of aircraft in an area. That information is useful in visualizing what is happening in the air, but the system typically does not issue the kind of alerts that TCAS does. Still, ADS-B is helpful to pilots, especially when they are flying in poor weather conditions or at times when visibility is low, said Dr. Hassan Shahidi, the president of the nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation. 'It's a huge improvement in terms of safety,' he said.
